10 Causes and Treatments for Cold Sores

Our final treatment is one many people would expect for an illness, but one that only works so well against viruses.

As we've said, cold sores are cause by HSV-1, a virus. Viruses typically stay with the host (that'd be the human) for the rest of their lives.

But thanks to advances in medicine, some antiviral medications can force a virus back into dormancy. For people suffering cold sores, those include acyclovir, valacyclovir, famciclovir and penciclovir [source: Mayo Clinic].